A site currently promoting awareness and debate of how the poorest students in Scotland face the highest government debts: "seems to return to this issue again and again…. " Michael Russell, former Cabinet Secretary for Education, April 2014

As this earlier post noted, spending on Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) in Scotland appears to have settled for now at the new, lower level established in 2012-13.

The new figures from the SLC on DSA are final for 2013-14 for Northern Ireland and near-final for England and for Wales. They show that as in 2012-13, England and Wales are spending significantly more on DSA than Scotland or Northern Ireland.

On trends, the numbers claiming and the amounts claimed rose most in England and Wales, with the average value of a claim falling slightly in England and remaining unchanged in Wales. In Northern Ireland, the numbers claiming and the amount claimed both fell: the average fell slightly. In Scotland numbers claiming rose, and the amount claimed rose less quickly, giving the same fall in the average as in England.

Nos claiming (000’s)

Amount claimed (£m)

2013-14

Change from previous year

2013-14

Change from previous year

England

58.5

6.50%

126.1

5.10%

NI

1.6

-6%

2.8

-6.70%

Scotland

4

5.40%

7.7

3.40%

Wales

3.3

6.50%

8.1

6.60%

In absolute value, the averages for Wales remains the highest, followed by England, then Scotland and then Northern Ireland.

Average

2013-14

Change from previous year

England

2156

-1.90%

NI

1750

-0.80%

Scotland

1815

-1.90%

Wales

2455

0%

In Wales and England 5% of all students claimed DSA. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the figure was 3%. Lower average payments and low proportions of students claiming mean that spending on DSA in Scotland and Northern Ireland is worth around half that in England or Wales, pro rata the size of student body. This is much the same pattern as last year.

Total students receiving any support(000s)

% claiming DSA

Value of DSA per head of whole student population (£)

England

1160.8

5

109

NI

51.3

3

55

Scotland

137.3

3

53

Wales

64.4

5

126

Very early figures provided for 2014 for England and Wales suggest that claimants are significantly higher in both nations than at the same point last year (12% and more than double, respectively). Though spending is also higher (6% and 33%), it has not risen as fast. However, these figures normally represent a relatively small share of the final numbers and so have to be treated with considerable caution.

Cuts to DSA were due in England in 2015-16, but have been put back a year. So for the moment, Wales and England seem likely to remain well ahead of the other two nations in the scale of their investment in DSA.